Based on personal experiences of the director himself, “F Is For Future” is a little one-hour dream about loss, grief, and a hidden porn collection. The coming-of-age drama is Teppei Isobe's feature-length debut after winning the best short film award with “Who knows about my Life” at the SKIP CITY INTERNATIONAL D-Cinema Festival in 2018.
“F Is For Future” is screening at Nippon Connection 2020
Instead of worrying about his future, Takuya aimlessly spends his time with his high school classmates. After a tragic accident, he decides to keep a promise that he made a long time ago: His friend's porn collection must disappear before his parents find it!
With his feature film debut, Teppei Isobe creates a heartwarming and authentic coming-of-age story. His young cast delivers a great performance as a group of youths who are on the brink of adulthood.
Overlayed by the fragile soundtrack of Kazuomi Eshima a.k.a. kafuka, the story evolves around a slacker main protagonist, who shares his existentialism not only with his classmates but also with many other teenage characters portrayed in current youth films. Being kind of in-between, Takuya symbolizes the indecisiveness that “F Is For Future” incorporates. Love, friendship, sex, and death are part of a slice-of-life insight, which is not further developed. The promising outline lacks a profound implementation. Although the actors are very good, their roles have no depth. Yasuyuki Sakurai as Takuya gives an authentic performance as well as his colleagues and is one of the best newcomers this year so far.
The camera by Kenta Kobayashi shows some strange angles, but especially the last sequences are memorable. Many scenes are disturbed by crude editing, which can be disorienting at times. When there are group discussions, the camera crosses the line and it feels difficult to establish a sense of the setting.
One may be wondering if the title is a reference to Orson Welles' “F is for Fake”, but there is no real hint towards any borrowing. Teppei Isobe presents an ambivalent dream, not bad nor good, with a boy without ambitions and a longing for love. The real meaning of this dream stays encrypted or maybe it is just an episode. In the end, there is at least a form of salvation for Takuya, which reconciles us with the bumpy plot.
